Chapter Five

She looked at her friends. “I know, guys. I know what he thinks about me taking this job. He thinks that I caved in the face of his charm and hot face and money. And honestly? I don’t care what he thinks. I know what I’m doing there, why I’m doing what he wants, why I gave in.” She shrugged. “All I care about is my Mom being healthy again… for that to happen, I’ll put up with just about anything. Including him and his monster ego.”

They nodded.

“Will it be hard to be around him? Sure.” Maggie sighed. “I thought – I thought we had something that we didn’t. He hurt me. He never apologized, never cared that I caught him in bed with that woman. He cheated on me many, many times, I know now, though I didn’t then. That’s a lot of history, and it’s bad, and I know all of that.”

“Do you want to try to forgive him?” Reena asked.

Maggie stared at her. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Reena brushed her long blonde hair back off her face. “I’m not saying get back together with the guy, or even be friends. I mean – just let go of some of the anger that you’ve been holding onto for the past two years.”

Maggie kept staring. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about forgiveness. I’ve only ever thought about forgetting him.”

Mia bit her lip. “It’s hard to do, Reena. Forgiveness, I mean.”

“Yeah, I know.” Reena was quiet for a few seconds. “I’m nowhere near forgiving Simon, you know. It’s not like I’m some paragon or poster girl for gushing forgiveness or anything. I’m just saying… hanging onto all that anger isn’t good for me. It’s not good for anyone.” Her soft blue eyes gazed at her friends. “For any of us.”

The other women considered her words. Katie had never even considered forgiving her stepfather; Mia was sure that even if by some miracle she managed to forgive Tom Devinger for herself, she’d never be able to do so for what he’d done to those kids; Maggie wasn’t convinced she even wanted to forgive Joe. But if Reena was willing to work on forgiving Simon Yates – a man who had beaten her badly and tried to rape her – then maybe the others could work a bit on letting some of their own rage and resentment go, too.

“You’re right, sweetie,” Mia said. “Speaking of which, what’s happening with the case against Simon right now?”

“The court date is set for next Tuesday.” Reena looked at her hands. “Assuming his lawyers don’t get another continuance, of course.”

“Do you think they will?” Katie asked.

“I don’t know. They’ve already had three, and I think even the judge is pretty fed up by now. I hope we can get things going at last… but it’s not up to me, right?”

“And the others?” Maggie said gently. “The other women? They’ll testify too?”

“Some will for sure.” Reena shook her head. “But two of them are terrified. I mean, they’re almost suicidal at the thought of standing up in open court and testifying about what Simon did to them. I don’t think they’ll be able to go through with it, to be honest.”

“Will that hurt your case?” Mia asked.

“Charlotte doesn’t think so,” Reena said. “We have seven women now, including me, who are willing to testify that Simon attacked them. That’s pretty compelling, no matter how you look at it, so I’m not sure that losing two potential witnesses is that big of an issue.”

“Jesus Christ,” Katie said. “Nine women…”

“That you know of,” Maggie added. “I’m sure there are others.”

“Yeah, me too,” Reena said. “And I imagine that when this story hits the press, others will come forward.”

“And how are you doing with that?” Mia said. “With the idea that you’ll be in the spotlight soon?”

“I think I’m doing better with it than Mitch is,” Reena said. “He’s already worried as hell what will be said about me. Keeps saying that as soon as it’s all over, he’s taking me away for a week or two to recover. Someplace with no cell or internet service.”

“Not a bad idea,” Maggie said. “Go and hide out somewhere. Throw the TV out the window, cut off the internet, pretend none of it’s happening. Stay in bed with your smoking hot kickboxer and let him distract you for a few days…”

Reena grinned. “Yeah, maybe. We’ll see.”

“Well, if you want a nice, quiet place to be alone with Mitch, let me know.” Mia smiled. “I know the perfect spot.”

“Where Nick took you after you were hurt?” Reena said.

“Yep, Open Skies Ranch. Amazing place. Private and beautiful. Healing, even.” She glanced around her living room. “I have the owner’s personal business card around here somewhere, if you want it.”

“Yes, please. Quiet and beautiful sounds good.” Reena sighed as she thought about what was surely coming: the trial and questions and cross-examination. The attacks on her character, the digging into her personal and sexual history, putting her current relationship with Mitch under a public microscope. “Sounds perfect, actually.”